Scores killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza

Originally posted by commodore64

Originally posted by jfj123
To be frank, I guess that's what happens when you attack another country with rockets. They may fight back and they may be better at it then you.

Here's a thought. Stop shooting rockets into Isreal and maybe they'll stop bombing the hell out of you. DUH !

Do u ever know the condition in Gazze? They have no water, nothing to eat, no electricity just becuase Israel shut down everything. Why would someone send rockets? You speak as if they are sending rockets just for fun or as if they are maniac fanatics. No they are not. Do some research. You and others.

I have.
Rockets were fired into isreal. Isreal responded.
Exactly what do you think firing rockets at isreal will accomplish?

Originally posted by Char2c35t
there is no such thing as slander if it is true, there are many people finally waking up to what is being done. The suffering of the people and the 300 to 1 killing ratio is sickening!

If "people" are waking up the Palestinian issue now, they obviously have been living under a rock and too ignorant to even know it . People who are coming out in some ignorant indignation towards Israel are the gullibly ignorant and fashionably sympathetic crowd!

For MONTHS Israel has been under attack despite honoring a ceasefire and all these "people who are finally waking up" were in a death sleep. Now, suddenly they take notice and Israel is supposed to give a damn ??

300 to 1 or 3 million to one, it doesnt really matter as long as Hamas keeps firing rockets and conducting attacks on Israel.

reply to post by commodore64


commodore, killing people itself is useless. To be effective, you have to kill most of your enemy until they are completely disassembled, their hearts are completely trodden, and their will to fight is totally demolished.

The problem here is that Israel has tried limited response, and that is insufficient. Thus, they postpone the inevitable.

Man, especially religiously motivated men such as Muslims, are the equivalent of a boil on the ass of humanity. Look at them closely. They are weak, jealous, greedy, murderous, filled with hatred, and suseptible to every form of depravity of destruction.

Left alone, the local environment, much like a festering, pus-filled sore, consistently deteriorates the situation even futher if left alone.

Fortunately the Almight God in his mercy has given us a method to lance the boil that pains men, as a counter to the increasing depravity of these men. That my friend, is war.

Hitler increasingly became more and more evil, extending his scope of suffering further and further from rational well being.

It was only war that stopped his utter evil. Evil cannot be reasoned with. Evil has no conscious to appeal to.

War, not tolerance, produces virtue in the world, and provides a cleansing of festering wounds as no other remedy can possibly obtain.

As Michael C. Riggs wrote, "Evil men, ruthlessly seeking your destruction through force, will ever be turned back by the greater force of good men, through even greater destruction, more ruthlessly applied."

Many who post here have never, ever been in a situation where their mortal lives depended upon their killing the one who was trying to kill them.

"Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight,
but Roaring Bill who killed him, thought it right." Hillaire Belloc

With evil men, at some point, you need to make a point. A definitive, no confusion, no misunderstanding - point. And nothing makes a point like total destruction.

The current approach of Israel is merely postponing the inevitable.

Originally posted by t0ken
So what has israel achieved till now?

-Nearly 400 palestinians dead compared to 4 israelis.

-Hamas still alive and healthy firing rockets.

-Hamas probably have 1000 fresh new recruits signing up at the moment.So killing about 150 hamas members won't make a difference to it.

So at the end off all these 'IDF special operations' hamas hasn't been exterminated and probably will grow stronger.

So how has israel exactly stopped hamas from firing rockets in future?

What Israel has achieved:

-Nearly 300 dead Hamas agents.

-Crippled Hamas strongholds and supply lines

-Destroyed Hamas training centers and weapon caches

-Forced the Gazan's to reevaluate their support for groups like Hamas which seek to promote conflict with Israel

-Forced some Arabs to reassess their apathy in preventing support of groups like Hamas etc which seek to promote conflict in the region .

-Delivered some much needed confidence to the Israeli citizenry that the attacks they faced for so long day-in and day-out were not left unanswered.


That quite a lot! I just hope they also launch a full scale ground offensive and further their air campaign.

reply to post by IAF101

All I hear is the same stuff from people that take the same side as you, and let's not forget from you.It's just like looking at a recorded tape that repeats all day long.People offer answers but you just ignore them and post away the same stuff over and over again.

For example some one gives an argument, you skip it and divert to the same thing again.It's not only you, dooper and others do it also.




[edit on 30-12-2008 by pepsi78]

Originally posted by IAF101
If "people" are waking up the Palestinian issue now, they obviously have been living under a rock and too ignorant to even know it . People who are coming out in some ignorant indignation towards Israel are the gullibly ignorant and fashionably sympathetic crowd!

Why? Israel is clean in this? I disagree:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Read the sources. Read the links. There's even Israeli people that are not cottoning to their gov't. Google Machsom Watch, or follow the links.

300 to 1 or 3 million to one, it doesnt really matter as long as Hamas keeps firing rockets and conducting attacks on Israel.

I'm sorry but by any reasonable standard that's disgusting. I don't know why I even dignified that last part with a response.

Originally posted by commodore64

Originally posted by jfj123
To be frank, I guess that's what happens when you attack another country with rockets. They may fight back and they may be better at it then you.

Here's a thought. Stop shooting rockets into Isreal and maybe they'll stop bombing the hell out of you. DUH !

Do u ever know the condition in Gazze? They have no water, nothing to eat, no electricity just becuase Israel shut down everything. Why would someone send rockets? You speak as if they are sending rockets just for fun or as if they are maniac fanatics. No they are not. Do some research. You and others.

What !? Why do you think Israel and the international community imposed the blockade in the first place ?? Both Hamas and Fatah descended into an Open fight for supremacy of the Palestinian authority and Hamas, the terrorist group seized control of Gaza, prompting Israel to seal its border with Gaza! Now, despite this blockade, Israel still allowed enough food and medical supplies to pass through to prevent a humanitarian crisis! This is despite the fact that a terrorist group had taken over land that Israeli citizens were forcibly removed out of in a bid by Israel for peace in the region!

-Nearly 300 dead Hamas agents.

You know that number is not real since you have no source but you give it anyway.You used the word nearly to make it big.

-Destroyed Hamas training centers and weapon caches

Then why are rockets still in the air.

-Forced the Gazan's to reevaluate their support for groups like Hamas which seek to promote conflict with Israel

Not at all.I have explained in my last post in this thread why peace with Israel is not working.Public support in Gaza for Hamas will probaly grow.

-Forced some Arabs to reassess their apathy in preventing support of groups like Hamas etc which seek to promote conflict in the region .

Same as Israel, read my last post.

reply to post by pepsi78


And all I hear from you over and over again without even paying attention to the facts and the history of the conflict is some perverse sympathy towards the terrorists and justifications for terrorist actions. Not one single one of your kind even acknowledges that Israeli's have been the victims of terrorist attacks day in and day out for the past six months.

Your bunch has pretty much accused the Jews and Israel of everything from complicity in the Holocaust to genocide to re-enacting the Holocaust on Palestinians and worse. All you people need to do next is deny the Holocaust and you can have a place right next your prophet Ahmedinajad and rant your crazed conspiracy theories and phantom horror stories from the same pedestal of the perverse.

Originally posted by intrepid
Why? Israel is clean in this? I disagree:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Read the sources. Read the links. There's even Israeli people that are not cottoning to their gov't. Google Machsom Watch, or follow the links.

I saw that little "gem" and I steered clear of it because it is the same hackneyed warped perspective of "Look what Israel has done!" over and over again that I have debated in a 100 threads. Eventually it will reach some discussion about the Holocaust and a complete history of the Middle east going back 3000 years and if you are really lucky quotes of UN decelerations and the like!

As for Machsom Watch, they are nothing new, if you search hard enough you will find that in Israel's free and plural society there are many groups with varying degrees and viewpoints. Israel is not Nazi Germany where all heil the Fuhrer! From ultra right wing, nationalistic militias to ultra left wing, anarchists! The existence of another group of people who want to "do something good! " is never in short supply amongst the idealists and the naive.

On the other hand there are smattering of Arabs who advocate the dissolution of the futile Palestinian movement also and for the Palestinians to either migrate to neighboring Arab states or to accept Israeli citizenship. But their number is very few and far between.

Finally, in the context of Isreal and Palestine there is no "clean" for anybody. There are however the aggressors, the unreasonable and the reactionists.

Originally posted by intrepid

300 to 1 or 3 million to one, it doesnt really matter as long as Hamas keeps firing rockets and conducting attacks on Israel.

I'm sorry but by any reasonable standard that's disgusting. I don't know why I even dignified that last part with a response.

Your mentioning it or dignifying it doesnt alter its standing as a reality that exsists! The main aim is to STOP HAMAS. Its that simple. War and conflict are always "disgusting", but unless realities change, there is no going back to the way things were for meekness is weakness. For if not for good sense, at least mortal fear will prevail and effect some change!

And all I hear from you over and over again without even paying attention to the facts and the history of the conflict is some perverse sympathy towards the terrorists and justifications for terrorist actions.

If you go back in time and take this from when it started in the first place
then you are sure to lose.

Not one single one of your kind even acknowledges that Israeli's have been the victims of terrorist attacks day in and day out for the past six months.

First you want real victims, as in "not moving at all"tune to the news station
and see what is happening in Gaza.
Second, I can count the numbers on my fingers, how many fingers do you need to count the numbers in Gaza.
Third. That is what happens when you cage someone and violate his rights, he becomes willd.

Your bunch has pretty much accused the Jews and Israel of everything from complicity in the Holocaust

I do not sustain such things and I have nothing against the Jews, I do however have a problem with the lunatic goverment of Israel.

to genocide to re-enacting the Holocaust on Palestinians and worse.

Yes, it may come to that if this keeps up.

All you people need to do next is deny the Holocaust and you can have a place right next your prophet Ahmedinajad and rant your crazed conspiracy theories and phantom horror stories from the same pedestal of the perverse.

Who me?.I'm Christian Ortodox as many here are Chatolic and so on, but for some reason they do not share your point of view.Even Jews are joining in and calling the Israely goverment lunatic.From raming in to boats in international waters to droping tons of bombs on an aready starved and depraved population they are sure to win the peace medal like Bush junior.


As I explained, Israel does not want peace.They just want to grab the land that is left to grab.I have already provided information in one of my posts in this thread ,and nobody responded because there is nothing to counter the facts.





[edit on 30-12-2008 by pepsi78]

Originally posted by pepsi78
You know that number is not real since you have no source but you give it anyway.You used the word nearly to make it big.

You apparently are ill informed and I cant even bother to take the pains to link an article for you!
But should you actually decide to read and THEN make up an opinion, you will learn that most of the dead have been Hamas "security agents" and since the death toll is 320 odd, taking into account collateral damage, I said with good cause "nearly 300".

Originally posted by pepsi78

-Destroyed Hamas training centers and weapon caches

Then why are rockets still in the air.

I never said the operation is finished did I ? Plus, the Gazans smuggle fresh supplies of rockets and the like from Egypt daily. Their abundance of rockets clearly shows how irrational these people are. They claim to not have enough food to eat and have spread stories that they have resorted to eating paper and grass etc but somehow they never seem to have a shortage of rockets and bombs! If they could only be as enterprising as they are with basic amenities as they are with weapons of death there might be some hope for them!

Originally posted by pepsi78

-Forced the Gazan's to reevaluate their support for groups like Hamas which seek to promote conflict with Israel

Not at all.I have explained in my last post in this thread why peace with Israel is not working.Public support in Gaza for Hamas will probaly grow.

Your posts follow the usual pro-Palestinian irrationality and absurd justifications based on speculations. Probably, maybe etc just dont cut it.

The fact is Palestinians in the West bank have food to eat, hospitals staffed, electricity, water and jobs. The Gazans have none of that and face death. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out the differences and make a choice.

reply to post by IAF101

This is despite the fact that a terrorist group had taken over land that Israeli citizens were forcibly removed out of in a bid by Israel for peace in the region!

Maybe we should talk a bit about the terrorist group that really took over the land?

Menahem Begin bragged in his book that he was considered "Terrorist Number One."(17) Yitzhak Sharnir of the Stern Gang was considered "Terrorist Number Two."

The Zionist terrorists were the first to commit political assassinations in the Middle East. The Stern Gang assassinated the British resident minister Lord Walter Moyne in Cairo on November 6, 1944. Yitzhak Shamir, the self-confessed terrorist, a member of the Irgun Z'vai Leumi and later on a member and leader of the Stern Gang, was one of the terrorists who planned the assassination.(18)

The Stern Gang, under Shamir's leadership, also planned and executed the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte, the United Nations Mediator on September 17, 1948, because he made suggestions to vary the partition plan of Palestine. John Kifner reported in the New York Times that two Israeli terrorists, Yehoshua Zetler and Meshulam Markover, had told Israeli television that they and two other members of the Stern Gang had on September 17, 1948, assassinated the Swedish United Nations Mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte and his aide, Colonel Andre Serot.I9 Shamir's role in the assassination of Count Bernadotte was described in Dan Kurzman's book, Genesis 1948:

On the muggy afternoon of Friday, September 10, a car spedfrom Jerusalem toTel Aviv carrying two men on afateful mission. Yehoshua Zetler was driving Israel Sheib to a conference with Nathan Friedman-Yellin and Yitshak Yizernitzky (Shamir), the two other members of the Stern Group's Central Committee. And Sheib was determined to leave the meeting with unanimous agreement on a "solution" to the Bernadotte threat - a solution that he had had in mind ever since the Stemist demonstration against the Mediator a month before.

As the car halted before a rundown apartment building on Ben Yehuda Street in Tel Aviv, Sheib told Zetler to wait for word from him. Then he climbed the stairs to Friedman- Yellin's apartment, where his two colleagues were waiting for him. In the simply furnished living room, the three men began to discuss the expected new Bernadotte Plan.

"If the world listens to Bernadotte and pressures our weakling government into making compromises, we will have lost our State," Sheib said. "We can't let this happen. We must show the world that it is just as futile for the United Nations to interfere in our affairs as it was for the British. Demonstrations are not enough."

Yizemitzky agreed. His view had always been, as he had explained to Stern members, that "a man who goes forth to kill another whom he does not know must believe one thing only - that by his act he will change the course of history."

The three men (according to Sheib and Yizemitzky) then discussed Count Bernadotte in the light of this philosophy. And as they exchanged ideas over wine and fruit, it seemed that the clock had been set back four years -to that day in Spring, 1944, when the same three men had met in another dingy room to consider assassinating Sir Harold MacMichael, theBritish High Commissioner in Palestine, andLordMoyne, the British Minister of State in the Middle East.

Within months, MacMichael had been wounded in an assassination attempt, and Lord Moyne murdered ...

After a long discussion (as Sheib and Yizemitzky relate it) the three men agreed to order Bernadotte's assassination.(20)

Source Encylopedia of the Palestine Problem

On September 10, 1945, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister in which he stated:

The young Jewish extremists, the product of a vicious education system, know neither toleration nor compromise; they regard themselves as morally justified in violence directed against any individual or institution that impedes the complete fulfillment of their demands. In a similar spirit their ancestors in the second century B.C. laid waste Palestine until a ravaged countryside and ruined cities marked the zenith of Hasmonaean power. The prototypes of the Stern Group and National Military Organization are the Zealots and Assassins according to whose creed even Jews married to Gentiles were worthy of death in Roman times. These Zealots of today, from Poland, Russia and the Balkans have yet to learn toleration and recognition of the rights of others. As the Foreign Secretary said recently of the Balkans, these people do not understand the meaning of the word democracy. The Jewish Agency may deplore terrorism; but every immoderate speech ... the flagrant disregard on the one hand for the authority of Government in maintaining law and order and on the other for the Arab case, the chauvinism and intolerance of their educational system, all contribute to an atmosphere in which the fanatic and the terrorist flourish. The Jewish leaders appear to be deliberately pushing extremism to a point when an explosion can no longer be avoided and do not scruple to use the plight of the Jews in Europe as a main political excuse. There are many Jews who deplore this state of affairs, but the rigidity of the discipline imposed by the political machine effectively discourages criticism except where it has no practical effect on Zionist policy. The Jews, like so much in Europe, need education in toleration and democracy.(6)


I have to say, I don't quite get Israel's exact position...?

Here we go again... When will it all end??? Why do these 2 brothers fight like this. This is taking sibling rivalry to a whole new level. Hamas is crazy... Determined, but crazy. The Jews are just fed up. All they have to do is stop firing rockets and the assault will halt. Believe me, the Jews don't really want to fight, they want to live in peace. Just like we do here in America. I am an orthodox sunni muslim myself, but I do not support Hamas. I do feel sorry for the PalestiniansThey, in my honest opinion are the ones responsible for the deaths of the Palestinians. Don't worry. Israel will not go too far into enemy territory for a ground invasion. Its too risky and what do they really have to gain

reply to post by poet1b

I did not start the subject of the Liberty, all I did was reply to the people who brought it up. As I pointed out, you bring nothing new to the subject, just spread the same old propaganda that suits your cause. You weren't there, you didn't fly the planes, or have your life on the line, and you have proven here that you aren't the kind figure out what is going on before firing away. You are hardly the fine example.

First of all, I read the entire thread before posting as I always do. Second, I responded to YOU because you made false statements, when you responded to those that brought the subject up. In addition, you ASKED for a reputable source for their claims, and as I said in my reply, I knew you weren't talking to me, but I DID provide a reputable source, to advance the course of this thread, and DENY IGNORANCE. Third, I do know what happened, because I spent over a year talking to Navy personnel as part of research I was doing. In addition, I worked very close with the Navy on several projects. Fourth, you have no idea of what went on. I do, based upon first hand knowledge of men that WERE there.

If you can't even bother to figure out who you are attacking on a forum, how careful would you be in a war situation.

Unlike you, I was not attacking anyone, even you. All I did was point out facts that I have verified. Apparently, if someone proves your statements wrong, you consider that an attack. All you have is your "opinion", which you have not backed up with any facts. In addition, if you knew anything about me, you would realize how ridiculous the above statement you made, is.

Since you do not wish to listen to facts, you can continue to debate yourself. I will not waste any more of my time bringing up facts, which you refuse to acknowledge. Have a nice day.

reply to post by IAF101

News flash: Israel doesnt want Gaza! They forcibly removed their own citizens and destroyed their homes in Gaza in a gesture of peace with the Palestinians.

This then would appear to be the only part of Palestine that Israel truly doesn't want.

Between 1939 and 1945 Zionist leaders in Palestine directed three bands of killers, the Hagana, the Irgun Z'vai Leumi, and the Stern Gang, all of which specialized in inventing and committing a wide variety of terrorist crimes. Each one of the present sinister top Israeli leaders was a member of one or the other of these three terrorist organizations. Israeli leaders are the Godfathers of terrorism in Palestine and in the Middle East. They are the inventors and masters of international terrorism.

THE GOAL OF ZIONIST TERRORISM WAS TO PREVENT PALESTINE INDEPENDENCE

After the London conference of 1939 between the British government and representatives of the Arab governments, the Palestinian Arabs and the Jewish Agency, the British govemment issued the White Paper of May, 1939, declaring its intention regarding the future government of Palestine:

1. The objective of His Majesty's Government is the establishment within ten years of an independent Palestine State which will be in treaty relations with the United Kingdom as will provide satisfactorily for the commercial and strategic requirements of both countries in the future; 2. The independent State should be one in which Arabs and Jews share in government in such a way as to ensure that the essential interests of each community are safeguarded.(1)

In a cable from the Government of Palestine to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on October 2, 1944, the government stated:

It may be useful if I supplement my telegram No. 1245 by some general observations regarding the present situation.

I need hardly stress the extent and development of the terrorist campaign which is being carried on in Palestine, culminating in the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the King's representative, recently concerted, and large scale attacks on Police Stations, and the brutal murder of a Senior Police Officer in the streets of Jerusalem.

Most dangerous development is the growth in numbers of Jewish young men and women who are becoming infected with the gangster virus; these are providing recruits for the terrorist organization. As well as active recruits, passive sympathisers with the terrorists' aims, even while they doubt the wisdom of their methods, are multiplying, especially amongst young people; thus there is a tendency for Yishuv to become more and more demoralised by absorption of this poison.(5)

I do though believe you are correct, that Israel does not want Gaza. The cornerstone to having convinced America that Israel is worthy of the massive aide we give her in weapons, money, and intelligence support, including some of our most sophisticated and proprietary technology is that Israel has a terrorist problem.

I believe Israel does everything in it's power to ensure she has a terrorism problem for that very reason to that very end.

Which would explain why they have packed 1.3 million Arabs into the Gaza Strip which is barely twice the size of Washington D.C., and denounce every attempt of the Arabs there to self govern themselves and establish a working infrastructure that would enable internal security to be viable in Arab self governed portions of Palestine, by invading every few years and killing the Arab police authorities and security infrastructure to ensure that the Arabs themselves can never reign in their own fringe radical elements and might actually end up peacefully self governing themselves, which might lead to renewed and more substantial pressures to give up the lands that Israeli forces have long illegally occupied.

It would explain why at times these Arabs in Gaza are blockaded and starved, why their economy is closely controlled by Israel, and despite having one of the worlds most vaunted intelligence agencies and security forces, constantly resorts instead to heavy handed collective punishment tactics to fuel resentment on the part of the indigenous Arabs.

I think you are right and finally agree with you on a point. Israel does not want Gaza, it just wants to use Israeli terrorism in its myriad and sophisticated forms to make sure an atmosphere always exists where oppressed Gazans will be tempted towards personal acts of revenge and vengeance and be so weakly governed that internal Arab security can not prevent those occasions.

What would Israel do in fact if it no longer had a terrorism problem and could no longer state any Arab nation wished to do it harm? How much aide would it loose, how much free advanced weaponry would it no longer receive and more importantly how much pressure would be put on it to provide the long deliberately disenfranchised Arab population viable living space and economic and political freedoms.

I am certain Israel does not actually want Gaza. I believe they are quite happy with precisely how Gaza is, and took every calculated step and used every diabolical means to make sure Gaza is precisely what Gaza is.

reply to post by poet1b

Hamas needs to learn to forgive. Hamas and those who back terrorism put us all in hell. Hamas needs to stop with the war that they have again start.

It is all a matter of perspective. The British considered American patriots who wanted independence from them, to be terrorists.

Menachem Begin' was considered a terrorist, when he tried to drive the British out of Palestine in 1944:

Menachem Begin became a close disciple of Vladimir “Ze’ev” Jabotinsky, the founder of the militant, racist, Revisionist Zionism movement, and its youth wing – Betar, in the mid-1930s. Upon arrival in Palestine in August of 1942, he received a proposal to take over a position in the Irgun (which was also inspired by Jabotinsky’s views), as Betar’s Commissioner. In 1944 Begin assumed the organization’s leadership, determined to expel the British government from Palestine. Begin issued a call to arms and from 1944 to 1948 the Irgun launched an all-out armed rebellion, perpetrating hundreds of attacks against British installations and posts. Begin financed these operations by extorting money from Zionist businessmen, and running bogus robbery scams in the local diamond industry, which enabled the victims to get back their losses from insurance companies.[6] The British government considered Begin a terrorist and its Security Service MI5 placed a ‘dead-or-alive’ bounty of £10,000 on his head after the Irgun threatened to kill Sir John Shaw, Britain’s Chief Secretary in Palestine. An MI5 agent (codenamed Snuffbox) also warned that Irgun had sleeper cells in London trying to kill members of British Prime Minister Clement Attlee’s Cabinet.

source: www.thepeoplesvoice.org...

One man's terrorist is another man's patriot.

It is becoming increasingly impossible to debate this topic if you rely on the MSM for your news:

Lights Out in Gaza, News Blackout in US by Deena Guzder

Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have decried Israel's continued aerial bombing campaign as unlawful and denounced the killing of more than 300 Palestinians since 27 December, including scores of unarmed civilians not taking part in the hostilities. Israel's attacks on the densely populated Gaza Strip also elicited condemnation from numerous world politicians and sparked protests in global cities. Despite international outcry over escalating violence, the U.S. mainstream media continues to privilege a prepackaged narrative in which Israel's actions are never disproportionate, never counterproductive and certainly never gratuitous. According to the mainstream media, the U.S. must continue uncompromisingly supporting Israel because the allegedly beleaguered democracy is held hostage by monomaniacal Islamofascists who are inherently evil. Promoting a paradigm in which Israel is always David up against Goliath, the U.S. media presents suffering Palestinians as expendable for the greater cause of Israel winning its epic struggle.

To justify U.S.'s carte blanche to Israel, the mainstream media restricts American readers to an echo chamber in which the following claims are repeated ad nausem until they are mistaken for fact:

1. Israel has a legal and moral right to bomb Gaza out of defense Security concerns are not and never have been a tolerable justification for pre-emptive attacks. Israel's decision to bomb Gaza represents a major assault on the international rule of law. The law of occupation is one of the oldest and most developed branches of international humanitarian law. An occupying power is obliged to follow the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, which protects the civilian population. The United Nations Security Council held in 1979 that the Fourth Convention did apply in the territories seized by Israel in 1967. Article 48 of the additional protocol is clear that Israel, as an occupying power, has obligations: "The Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objective." The latest Israeli attacks come on top of a brutal siege of the Gaza Strip which has created a humanitarian catastrophe of dire proportions for Gaza's beleaguered Palestinian residents by restricting the provision of food, fuel, medicine, electricity, and other necessities of life. "International law is not observed with respect to Israeli policies towards the Gaza Strip, Israel continues to reinforce an occupation whose every element violates international humanitarian law, and particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention," notes Jeff Halper, an Israeli-American Anthropologist, author, lecturer, political activist, and co-founder and Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

2. Israeli citizens live in constant fear of Hamas rockets Since 2005 Hamas has fired some 6,300 rockets from Gaza at Israel, killing 10 people.[1] In just the last four days, Israel has reduced the Gaza Strip to rubble and killed over 300 Palestinians. During the ongoing four-decade-long brutal occupation of historic Palestine and the recent grotesquely inhumane blockade of Gaza, Palestinian deaths have far outnumbered Israeli deaths. Since September 29, 2000, approximately 123 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians whereas 1,050 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis. Since September 29, 2000, a total of 1,062 Israelis and no fewer than 4,876 Palestinians were killed in the conflict.[2]

3. Hamas refuses to recognize the right of Israel to exist and has never made any concessions As Seth Ackerman of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) notes, there is no need to euphemize Hamas' history of brutal tactics or its bellicose ideology, but Hamas has signaled its potential willingness to accept a two-state settlement and make other concessions to broker peace.[3] Hamas has also made tentative offers of a long-term "hudna," or truce, albeit with less gusto than Israel demands.

4. Israel is only targeting Hamas headquarters Gaza, one of the most densely populated tracts of land in the world, is home to about 1.3m Palestinians, about 33% of whom live in United Nations-funded refugee camps.[4] Avoiding civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip during aerial raids is comparable to trying to avoid such casualties in Washington DC, New York City or Los Angeles. "Because Gaza is so densely populated, there is no such thing as precision strike - you have glass, brick, shrapnel flying into people's homes," notes Ewa Jasiewicz, a volunteer with the Free Gaza Movement.[5]

5. Attacking Hamas will help Israel achieve security There is no doubt that the recent attacks will only embolden and multiply Israel's detractors. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious decree to Muslims around the world on Sunday, ordering them to defend Palestinians against Israel's attacks on Gaza. For a second day in Jordan, several thousand protesters gathered in Amman and burned Israeli and American flags.[6] There were similar rallies in Egypt, Syria, Libya and Iraq with many calling for a firm response from their leaders. Hamas' military is barely dented by the Israeli attacks and, according to a poll by Israel's Channel 10 television station, only 6% of Israelis believe its governments aerial bombings will end Hamas' rocket attacks. [7]

6. The Bush administration has the implicit support of the international community in blaming Hamas "thugs" and applauding Israel's show of defense With the exception of the U.S. and her staunchest allies, the international community has largely condemned Israel's attacks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on Israel to "urgently halt" its military campaign. Japan's Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said, "Japan calls on Israel to exercise its utmost self-restraint." China's Vice-Premier Li Kequiang joined the voices urging a halt to violence and said, "The Chinese side is shocked and seriously concerned over the current military operations in Gaza that have caused a large number of death and injuries."[8] Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi similarly stated, "Malaysia deplores the disproportionate use of military power by Israel against the people of Gaza." French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the European Union presidency, told the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas of his serious concerns about the escalating violence. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon added his voice to the 15-member Security Council's call for an immediate end to hostilities and urged Israel to allow humanitarian aid into the poverty-stricken territory.[9] Humanitarian organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reiterate their call for an end to reckless and unlawful Israeli attacks against densely populated residential areas.

7. The attacks on Gaza are supported by the entire Jewish community Jewish Voice for Peace joins millions around the world, including the 1,000 Israelis who protested in the streets of Tel Aviv this weekend, in condemning ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza. The organization calls for an immediate end to attacks on all civilians, whether Palestinian or Israeli. In the face of mounting deaths, several Israeli and American Jewish peace groups are protesting the recent air raids by demonstrating in the streets, petitioning their elected officials and directly reaching out to Palestinian civilians. Groups that are encouraging peace between Palestinians and Israelis include Rabbis for Human Rights, B'Tselem, Bat Shalom, Ta'ayush, Yesh-Gvul, Peace Gush Shalom Tikkun, and many others. While there is no consensus in the Jewish community on the recent Gaza air raids, the underreported efforts of the Jewish "left" is far from negligible; Jewish Voices of Peace claims more than 10,000 members and has been instrumental in drawing attention to the lopsided media coverage through their "Lights out in Gaza, News Blackout in U.S." campaign. Many of these Jewish peace activists are deeply religious and draw on the Torah to support their stand against Israel's attack on Gaza. The media has extensively covered the Israeli settlers who cheer on Israel's more hawkish actions, but little has been written on dissident Israeli Jews and their American Jewish sympathizers who are advocating a more peaceful, non-violent course

source: www.commondreams.org...

It is hard for people to see the Palestinian point of view, when the American MSM refuses to be unbiased in its coverage. That is hardly a surprise, however.